Central team in city to advise civic body on its TB control programme

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will decide on the frequency of the door-to-door surveillance for the tuberculosis (TB) control programme this week, said officials on Wednesday.

The BMC has asked officials from the Central Tuberculosis Division (CTD), experts from Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and USAID to advise them regarding the periodicity of case-finding programmes run by the health workers.

The officials are in Mumbai for a “joint monitoring mission” facilitated by the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO organises a review of the national TB programme once every three years and the report of this mission, to be carried out in six states, is expected to be submitted to the government in a month.

“We will discuss with experts and decide on the periodicity of the programme as it has to be a continuous process. We were able to identify 458 TB cases since April and bring them for treatment,” said Manisha Mhasikar, additional commissioner, BMC.

Officials said the near ten-fold increase in identification of multi-drug resistant cases, since the launch of TB control programme in 2012, was due to increase in diagnostic facilities including the GeneXpert and additional lab facilities in the city. “It is important to understand that when more people are identified and treated, the risk of infection in society reduces,” said Mhaiskar.

The team including Dr Kenneth Castro from CDC and Dr Sanjay Kapoor from USAID, visited the Shivajinagar slum in Govandi. They are expected to visit Dharavi and Sewree TB Hospital on Thursday.